PURPOSE: to establish measures to ensure a high level of public sector interoperability at EU level (Interoperable Europe Act).
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: it is necessary to strengthen the development of cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services in the Union, to allow public administrations in the Union to cooperate and make public services function across borders.
Member States are investing intensely in the digitisation of their public administrations. However, while more and more services provided by the EU public sector become digital, their level of interoperability is still insufficient.
The communication from the Commission 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade underlines the need to speed up the digitalisation of public services by 2030, including by ensuring interoperability across all levels of government and across public services. Furthermore, experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that interoperable solutions help to ensure that EU citizens can exercise their Treaty right to free movement.
The existing informal cooperation should be replaced with a clear legal framework to enable interoperability across different administrative levels and sectors and to ensure seamless cross-border data flows for truly European digital services.
CONTENT: the Regulation proposes to lay down measures to promote the cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services in the Union by establishing common rules and a framework for
coordination on public sector interoperability, with the aim of fostering the development of interoperable trans-European digital public services infrastructure.
Coherent EU approach to cross-border interoperability
To foster a coherent EU approach to cross-border interoperability and to support the three main pillars of the proposal: (i) interoperability solutions, (ii) policy implementation support projects and (iii) governance framework, the proposal sets out two general obligations for public sector bodies:
1) to perform interoperability assessments and,
2) to support the sharing of interoperability solutions within the public sector.
Interoperability solutions
The Interoperable Europe Board will develop a European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and propose to the Commission to adopt it. The Commission may adopt the EIF.
The EIF will provide a model and a set of recommendations on legal, organisational, semantic and technical interoperability, addressed to all entities falling within the scope of this Regulation for interacting with each other through their network and
information systems.
The Interoperable Europe Board will recommend interoperability solutions for the cross-border interoperability of network and information systems which are used to provide or manage public services to be delivered or managed electronically in the Union. When an interoperability solution is recommended by the Interoperable Europe Board, it will carry the label Interoperable Europe solution and will be published on the Interoperable Europe portal.
The Commission will publish Interoperable Europe solutions and the European Interoperability Framework on the Interoperable Europe portal , by electronic means, in formats that are open, machine-readable, accessible, findable and re-usable, if applicable, together with their metadata.
Support measures
The proposal sets out measures designed to support public sector bodies in the implementation of the Regulation.
The rules governing policy implementation support set out a process on how EU-wide policy projects carried out under the Regulation can support interoperable and digital EU policy implementation across the EU public sector.
The proposal also sets out innovation measures to promote the development and uptake of innovative interoperability solutions in cross-border contexts.
To support testing environments for innovative interoperability solutions, the Commission can authorise the set-up of regulatory sandboxes. The sandboxes should not only contribute to new technological solutions but also to regulatory learning.
Governance
The proposal establishes a multi-level governance framework. In the Interoperable Europe Board, Member States and representatives of the Commission, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee will set strategic goals and agree on concrete measures that can ensure the cross-border interoperability of their networks and information systems providing or managing digital public services.
The Committee will be supported by the Interoperable Europe Community, which will enable the participation of a wider range of stakeholders and will be involved in the operational tasks related to the implementation of the Regulation.
The Board is supported by the Interoperable Europe Community that will enable the involvement of a broader set of stakeholders and that is involved in the operational tasks linked to the implementation of the Regulation.
Budgetary implications
The proposal establishes a number of obligations for the Commission, in particular to create the structured cooperation mechanism between EU and Member State administrations, to facilitate this interoperability governance and to develop guidelines and common solutions.
Fulfilling the Commissions obligations set out in this legal proposal will require around EUR 130 million between 2023 and 2027 and will be funded directly from the Digital Europe programme. The Commissions administrative costs are estimated at approximately EUR 2.822 million, including costs for human resources and other administrative expenditure.